


New Year, New Wishes

by Dream_Traveler_Kirvee



Category: Free!
Genre: Gen, Sibling Bonding, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-12
Updated: 2019-09-12
Packaged: 2020-10-12 00:00:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20554865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dream_Traveler_Kirvee/pseuds/Dream_Traveler_Kirvee
Summary: Ikuya and Natsuya visit the shrine together for New Years.





	New Year, New Wishes

**Author's Note:**

> I'M SO GLAD I GET TO FINALLY POST THIS!!!
> 
> This was written for the For The Team charity zine back late last year and into February of this year. It was a gen zine focusing on friendship and sibling bonds, so I chose to write something for Natsuya and Ikuya. Despite being short, I put some effort into researching for this, so I hope you all enjoy it!
> 
> This is set post-DF.

Ikuya’s breath puffed into a small cloud as they made their way up the shrine stairs. The new year was approaching with every passing hour, so Natsuya had suggested they visit the shrine together this year. Their mom couldn’t make it, which made Ikuya mildly disappointed, but he supposed having only Natsuya for company was fine.

It was fine, actually. Ikuya searched his memory and found he couldn’t remember the last time they’d done this. Or, really, he couldn’t remember the last time they’d hung out together that didn’t involve swimming. With Natsuya’s vagabond lifestyle keeping him out of Japan for months—years, even—and Ikuya being hyperfocused on his own swimming, there had never been time for them to casually hang out. Now, with the swimming season over and things finally reconciled between them, there was more time.

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it? At least two years, give or take,” said Natsuya, who glanced over his shoulder at Ikuya.

He hadn’t been expecting the silence between them to be broken like that, so Ikuya spent a moment blinking in surprise before he responded,

“Yeah, something like that.”

“So?” Natsuya asked, no longer looking back at Ikuya.

A pause. When nothing else was said Ikuya frowned before he answered,

“So what?”

“So, what’re you going to wish for?”

He sighed at the question. Part of him should’ve expected it’d be something like that.

“Nice try, but I’m not telling you.”

Natsuya laughed, loud and obnoxious as always before the comfortable silence returned between them. They continued to walk up the stairs, reaching a small landing before continuing up another flight. With every step forward and upward he thought back on the year. On his life, really, and the incidents that led him here.

It was hard to believe that barely half a year had passed since the All Japan Invitational. This time last year, Ikuya had been lost in what felt like a sea of muddy water. He couldn’t see anything around him; not teammates, not friends, and not even his own family.

Now, though, he didn’t feel like that at all. Now, he swam in clearer water with teammates he didn’t have before. Now, he’d been reunited with friends he didn’t think he’d see again and made new ones too. And now, he’s even getting to swim alongside his big brother—a dream he’s had for as long as he can remember.

Speaking of which…

“Don’t you have a training camp soon?” He asked.

“Nah, not til February. There’s a tournament in Reykjavic I’m going to before that, though.”

“With the team?”

“Mhmm!”

“Amazing. Nao must be relieved you’re no longer a hobo.”

“Shut up!” Natsuya said before punching Ikuya’s arm.

Ikuya laughed under his breath.

Since they both qualified in the All Japan Invitational, they were invited to train with the Olympic team. This training generally involved going to different camps across the country in groups and to tournaments around the world with those groups. Every two months or so they’d reconvene and shuffle around the people in each group. It was a team building method, so sometimes he was in the same group as Natsuya and sometimes he wasn’t. Right now, they weren’t in the same group.

So far since the Invitational, Natsuya had gone to six tournaments both big and small with his training camp groups. Ikuya, on the other hand, had only been in two of those.

“Have they said anything about your condition?” Natsuya asked as they passed under the _torii_ gate, finally entering the temple proper.

A crowd of people were already gathered into a big, organized line across the temple grounds. Ikuya frowned and shook his head in reply to the question once they were settled in line.

“My times have improved a bit but they’re still erratic, so the coaches said they’re going to see how the next training camp goes.”

Natsuya hummed as the line moved slightly,

“You’ll get there, I know it.”

“I should already be there,” he said, grumbling it under his breath.

Natsuya took this opportunity to plant himself on Ikuya’s shoulder with a wide grin.

“Listen to your older and wiser brother, will ya? Progress is progress even if it takes some time. You did well at the last competition they let you go to, right?”

“Yeah…” He answered.

“Then I know you’ll keep getting better and before you know it they’ll let you do more competitions. Maybe next year we’ll even get to race each other in all of them!”

Ikuya hummed softly in reply, continuing to move with the line even with Natsuya’s weight against him. After about twenty minutes they had only moved a few feet from where they started, and more people were already behind them. Natsuya clicked his tongue in annoyance, removing himself from Ikuya’s shoulder to instead try to look over the crowd in front of them.

“Jeez, what’s taking so long?”

“There’s a lot of people here. Be patient.”

A few more minutes and they still barely moved. Natsuya, who now had his arms crossed and was tapping his foot against the ground, groaned in frustration before he once again looked over people’s heads.

“I can see the box from here.”

“We’re almost there then just—”

“Gimme your coins,” Natsuya said, only giving Ikuya a brief second before he grabbed the coins out of his hands.

“Hey! Wait just a—what are you—”

But his protests were to no avail as Natsuya winded up and chucked their coins in the general direction of the offering box.

“Natsuya!”

“It’s fine, it’s fine! They didn’t hit anyone. Besides this is close enough.”

Having decided that, Natsuya moved to do the usual prayer ritual where they stood. Ikuya rolled his eyes but followed suit. He held his prayer position a little longer than Natsuya did.

“Still not going to tell me what you’re wishing for?”

“Ask me that again and I’m telling Nao.”

“Alright, alright,” Natsuya said with a laugh, though his voice had an edge of panic at the threat.

They left the line after that, stopping by the fortune stand to collect their fortunes and then began making their way back to the stairs.

“We’re not staying for sunrise?” Ikuya asked.

Natsuya waved his hand dismissively,

“Nah, we probably shouldn’t. Not this time.”

Ikuya whistled, impressed.

“Wow, coming from you that’s surprisingly resp—”

“But there’s a place I know on The Scramble that has **awesome** beer this time of the year. It’s only five minutes away. Wanna go?”

Ikuya sighed. He spoke too soon. What was that Natsuya had said about being ‘older and wiser’?

“You know I can’t drink yet.”

“Aw, come on, just one beer?”

After a moment of thought as they made their way down the stairs Ikuya replied,

“Fine. You can buy me one orange juice.”

At the bottom of the stairs Natsuya made a show of pouting like the petulant child he was deep down. He threw his arm over Ikuya’s shoulders as they continued to walk, making a dramatic sobbing sound.

“I can’t believe it……… My baby brother has grown so heartless…………”

He rolled his eyes and elbowed Natsuya’s side.

Above them the sky was clear and starless. Months ago, such a sight would’ve made him distraught, but now it didn’t. Now he could see a starless sky as beautiful in its own way. He didn’t need to wish on stars for what he wanted—right now the shrine held his wish.

His wish to regain his strength and swim alongside his brother. His wish to continue swimming with his friends. He wasn’t so naïve anymore to think that wishes would just magically come true without any effort on his part. Wishing was the first step, now he just had to keep on doing.

“Say, what fortune did you get?” Natsuya asked as they settled onto the bus.

Ikuya hummed softly with a shrug, digging it out of his coat pocket. He opened it and skimmed it, his lip twitching up into the smallest of smiles.

_Your wishes will come true this year._

**Author's Note:**

> Did you know that apparently throwing coins over people's heads as a way to bypass waiting in line is a legit thing that people do at shrines during new years? Because it is, and it seemed like a very Natsuya thing to do.
> 
> It's also a certified fact that the quickest way to get Natsuya to do anything is to threaten to tell mo--I mean Nao.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
